Pests
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If farmers know what sort of pest insects are present in their crops – and in what numbers – they can avoid excessive use of pesticides. The FarmSense system was created to provide that information, via a network of Smart Traps.
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Although insects may ruin crops, the use of traditional pesticides can definitely harm the environment. Spanish scientists have now developed a possible alternative to those chemicals, in the form of plants that produce insect-confusing pheromones.
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Research has found a common pesticide may promote obesity by slowing the calorie-burning ability of certain fat cells. The animal study indicates chlorpyrifos, to be banned in the US, promotes food intake and suppresses thermogenesis in brown fat.
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After years of court battles the EPA has announced it will ban agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide suspected of causing health problems in children. The ban comes into effect in six months, with a further review of non-food uses to follow.
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Because fruits just dangle from the main plant before ultimately falling off, one might think that they are unable to communicate with that plant. According to new research, however, tomato fruits are able to transmit alerts to their mother plant.
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Thermacell LPG- and battery-powered repellers offer one of the more convenient ways to keep mosquitos off your skin, without open flames, sprays or pungent odors. Now Thermacell launches its latest repeller with increased range.
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While pest insects can have a devastating effect on crops, pesticides can likewise cause a great deal of damage to the environment. That's where CropCoat comes in, as it's designed not to kill harmful insects, but to "hide" plants from them instead.
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Genetic engineering has been proposed as a way to deal with the deadly mosquito, and a new project by Texas A&M AgriLife Research is looking to enable risk-free "test runs" of such genetic changes that are automatically deleted after a period of time.
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Responsible for millions of dollars in crop losses annually, the red palm weevil is a flying beetle that lays its eggs inside date palm trees. It could soon be possible to detect such infestations earlier than ever, using fiber optic cables.
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Honeybee numbers are falling to colony collapse disorder (CCD), which has devastating implications for global ecosystems and agriculture. But now, researchers have engineered bacteria that can help bees fend off two of the main causes of CCD.
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Not only are diamondback moths quite harmful to brassica-genus crops such as cabbage, broccoli and canola, but they're also very resistant to insecticides. Help may be on the way, though, in the form of a genetically-engineered version of the moth.
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It's definitely annoying when you're trying to swat a mosquito that's flying around a room, but you lose track of where it is. Bzigo is designed to help, as it optically-tracks mozzies and then highlights them with an eye-safe laser.
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